Lockney school fire headlines area news

Published 6:00 pm, Saturday, January 2, 2010

Major news in cities around Plainview started quickly in 2009 — beginning with an arson case burned down Lockney High School — and ended dramatically — with a police chase and shooting in Olton.

On Sunday, Jan. 11, two 15-year-old girls started a fire on the second floor of Lockney High School with a lighter and paper, Floyd County Sheriff Paul Raissez said. Their motive for the fire: to get new textbooks and more government funding for the school. The fire completely gutted the high school and caused major smoke damage to the junior high. Four Lockney Fire Department units responded along with three from Floydada. Several citizens were able to save photos and other memorabilia from the adjacent junior high on the south end of the complex.

Classes met at two local churches for several weeks before the junior high was repaired and portable buildings were brought in for high school students.

Only one teen confessed to the fire at the high school, while the other was responsible for setting a trash fire outside the school the night before. The 15-year-old responsible for the high school fire reportedly was sentenced to four years in a Texas Youth Commission facility.

On July 31, Ronald Gordan Bures, 52, of Cotton Center was found dead in a ditch approximately 3 1/2 miles inside Hale County just west of FM 179.

According to Lamb County officials, Mickey Dale Birchfield, 51, and Bradford Stanley Halderman, 53, reportedly killed Bures in the driveway of their house near County Roads 272 and 317 in Lamb County by hitting him in the head with a blunt object. The two then tied Bures by his ankles to his own car, a maroon 1984 Mercedes-Benz, with a rubber air hose and dragged him to the ditch nearly four miles away. Witnesses saw the dragging and reported it to police.

As the year came to a close, Olton Police Chief Joe Banda shot a Plainview man in the leg after he caused two police cars to wreck and attempted to kill two officers.

Around 9:30 a.m. Dec. 27, Ramiro Lopez Chavira, 31, showed up at a house located in the 1000 block of Main Street where his estranged wife and children were staying. Police tried to arrest Chavira for violating a protective order, but he escaped — despite being shocked with a Taser.

Chavira led Olton police on a short chase, ultimately causing both police cars to crash. One vehicle slammed into the entrance of the Olton Clinic. The police officers were not seriously injured.

Later that night, Chavira returned to house and poured gasoline around the house in an apparent attempt to burn it down. He also reportedly attacked and pulled a gun on the owner of the house, 60-year-old Victor Ybanez, Chavira’s father-in-law.

Chavira continued to elude police until Dec. 29 when someone spotted Chavira near an Allsup’s convenience store. As Banda was waiting for back-up to arrive, Chavira reportedly pointed a gun at Banda, prompting the police chief to shoot him.

After being treated at University Medical Center in Lubbock for a minor leg injury, Chavira was booked into Lamb County Jail. He is charged with aggravated assault to a public servant with a $100,000 bond, an attempt to commit arson with a $75,000 bond and attempted capital murder of a police officer with a $200,000 bond.

Texas Rangers are continuing their investigation.

In other news around the area over the past year:

January

18 — Eighty-one-year-old Joe Vaughn, a former Tulia resident, was honored for 40-plus years of service to the agricultural aviation industry when he was presented the Agrinaut Award by the National Agricultural Aviation Association.

21 — The Kress Volunteer Fire Department responded to a wildfire at County Road X and the Swisher-Hale County line and later called for assistance from Plainview, Edmonson, Hale Center and Halfway. Kress Police Chief Kenny Hughes said the blaze appeared to have been intentionally set.

22 — Joshua Jones, a 32-year-old Big Spring native, became the first city manager for Hale Center.

23 — Seven wildfires damaged an estimated 1,600 acres along U.S. Highway 70 between Floydada and Plainview. Floydada Assistant Fire Chief Chad Guthrie was uncertain of the cause, but believed because of the pattern of the fires it could have been a truck with a loose bearing that created sparks or had a blowout that ignited the flames.

25 — Spc. Issac Flores of Hale Center is recovering from injuries sustained while serving in Iraq. The son of Anita and Roger Flores is recovering from third-degree burns and a fractured back at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

26 — Lockney Junior High students returned to school today for the first time since the school fire on Jan. 11.

27 — Ramon Damian Cisneros, 22, of Twentynine Palms, Calif., was killed when the Ford Expedition he was driving north on I-27 about seven miles north of Kress veered off the roadway, over-corrected and went into a side skid across the median, rolling 1 1/2 times before coming to rest upside down in the southbound lane of traffic. Cisneros died at the scene. Passengers Jeremy Matthew Velez, 19, and Antonio Tony Davila, 21, both of Plainview, were treated at Covenant Hospital Plainview.

February

8 — Abernathy received $375,000 from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to help fund home repairs for low-income residents and provide financial benefits to both the local construction industry and government coffers.

9 — A 12-year-old boy involved in vandalism at Olton Cemetery in September has been sentenced to one year probation and must perform 150 hours of community service at the cemetery.

10 — PBS aired the documentary film “Tulia, Texas” looking at the aftermath of a major drug operation in 1999 that involved 46 Tulia residents — 39 of whom were black.

March

2 — Honored during the Olton Chamber of Commerce Banquet were Olton Clinic, Business of the Year; Janie Cano, Teacher of the Year; Norma Lively, Citizen Through the Years; Bobbye Dennis, Woman of the Year; and Rodney Smith, Man of the Year.

5 — Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents from the Lubbock District Office seized the contests of a defunct liquor store in Briscoe County. Bruskie’s Liquor Store on FM 378 allowed its sales permit to expire nearly seven months ago, but the owner never cleared the store of its contents.

9 — Olton resident Jean Green died Saturday from injuries sustained in a crash in Lubbock County. Five others also were killed in the accident which occurred at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and FM 2641.

9 — Honored during the Lockney Chamber of Commerce Banquet were The Salvation Army, Outstanding Organization of the Year; Jim Huggins and Bill Hunter, named Citizens of the Year; and Alfredo Martinez, Fireman of the Year.

11 — Virginia May Sytsma, 54, was arrested for manufacturing and delivery of a controlled substance after deputies found a small methamphetamine lab at her home at 18010 N. County Road 2700 in north Lubbock County.

12 — The Floydada Chamber of Commerce was notified by Floyd County officials that it must be out of its building at 125 E. California by Sept. 30. The structure is owned by the county, which needs it for the overcrowded Floyd County Sheriff’s Office.

13 — Honored during the Tulia Chamber of Commerce Banquet were Bob Colson, Man of the Year; Josh and Christina Moore of Moore Than Medicine, Business of the Year; Bob and Thalia Fulkerson, Pioneer Spirit Award; and Judine Wilks, Woman of the Year.

25 — Floydada Junior High Principal Mac Sherman and Floydada High School Principal Wayne Morren were named as the top administrators by the Region XVII Texas Association of Secondary School Principals.

26 —Delta & Pine Land, a cotton seed company in Aiken and a division of Monsanto, donated $20,000 to Lockney to help rebuild the high school.

31 — Petersburg received a $149,600 grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture to help replace sidewalks between avenues F and H on Main Street.

April

7 — Brandon McDonald of Lockney was sentenced to 60 years in prison for sexual assault. Floyd County District Attorney Becky McPherson said McDonald also was found guilty of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault during his two-day trial. The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred in September 2008 after McDonald broke into a female resident’s house in Lockney by kicking out a back door.

14 — The late Danny Ivy of Hale Center was honored by the Lubbock Fire Department when the department’s training house was named in his memory. Ivy, who died of leukemia in February at age 62, served as an instructor at the Lubbock Area Fire Conference since the mid-1970s, including the last 15 years as lead instructor.

17 — A front-end loader was used to remove piles of hailstones from a street in Kress following a storm that featured heavy rain and tornadoes. Interstate 27 from Plainview to Canyon was temporarily closed due to high water.

17 — The Kress Chronicle could shut down because its editor, 63-year-old Mary Strange, is ready to retire. In June, Sherrill Shalin of Levelland bought the newspaper.

20 — Honored at the Hale Center Chamber of Commerce Banquet were Valerie and Jon Ivy, widow and son of Educator of the Year Danny Ivy; Terry Timms, Citizen of the Year; Herman Cozar, Citizen Through the Years; and Keita Jones, Farm Family of the Year.

22 — Jayleen Wilfong, director of the Swisher County Head Start program, said her building sustained significant water damage in a recent storm, forcing staff and students to find shelter at Highland Elementary School in Tulia.

29 — The Tulia City Council voted 5-0 to hire Dan Dible as city manager. Dible has been city manager for six cities, including a 12-year stint in Farmington, N.M.

May

1 — Hale Center residents Joe and Nell Rogers were honored by the Plainview Daily Herald with a new set of tires as the two have delivered newspapers for 25 years.

22 — Gregory Alan Ruff has 30 days to file an appeal of the guilty verdict, which was handed down by a Swisher County jury. Ruff was convicted of sexual assault in Tulia and was free on a $20,000 appeal bond.

29 — Dr. Michael John Woollends, 64, pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges and now faces up to a year in federal prison and payment of more than $139,000 in restitution. Woollends, who lived in Edmonson but was an emergency room physician at Hereford Regional Medical Center, did not file tax returns from 2002-05.

June

2 — About 50 Petersburg residents attended the city council meeting to voice concerns about violence among students. Two teenage boys reportedly were beaten on Memorial Day afternoon.

3 — Kress resident Nolan Bontke is continuing to improve after suffering a head injury in an accident more than six weeks ago at Tulia Feedlot. After spending nearly three weeks in an Amarillo hospital, Bontke was transferred to Covenant Specialty Hospital in Lubbock. He has since moved to Prairie House Living Center in Plainview.

15 — Donald Steve Vinton, 70, of Hereford was identified as the motorcyclist who was found dead on the side of State Highway 207 in Briscoe County. It was unknown what caused the wreck.

22 — The bodies of Rainer Aberer, 53, and Sharen Lee Severson, 56, were found with the wreckage of a Cessna 182 near Country Road 28 in Floyd County. The exact cause of the wreck was unknown, but investigators are looking into pilot error and weather as possible causes.

30 — Close to 100 people showed up to hear about issues related to wind development at the Floyd County Friends Unity Center in Muncy. Many who attended were area landowners looking to gain understanding on what it’s going to take to start reaping the benefits of the green energy revolution.

July

4 — Alfredo Rodriguez Faudoa, 21, died after he lost control of his Ford Explorer on FM 168 near CR 182. He was not wearing a seat belt.

9 — Abernathy celebrated its centennial by opening a time capsule that was buried in 1976 in front of City Hall.

15 — Daniela Hernandez of Brownfield was pronounced dead at University Medical Center after she was involved in a wreck on Interstate 27 near Hale Center. She was headed north and lost control of her vehicle. She struck the guardrail in the median which caused her SUV to flip.

August

3 — Cassandra Wickware, 12, of Floydada died after she was struck on her bicycle by a vehicle driven by Juan Sanchez, 38, of Floydada on U.S. 62/70.

23 — A decision favoring Lockney’s Mangold Memorial Hospital in its struggle against the Internal Revenue Service was rendered in U.S. Tax Court in Lubbock.

25 — Firefighters from five departments battled about two hours to control a blaze that caused more than $1 million in damage, destroying Dollar General in Tulia and damaging other downtown buildings. Officials did not immediately release the cause of the fire, which started inside Dollar General. No injuries were reported. Dollar General planned to move into a recently constructed building on Second Street later this summer.

18 — Olton superintendent Brad Lane resigned from his post after coming to terms with school trustees. Olton High School Principal Bub McIver was named as Lane’s replacement.

23 — Walt Arnold of Silverton was one of six people inducted into the 2009 class of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo.

29 — Daniel Herrera of Floydada was sentenced to 34 years in prison after being found guilty of murder. The sentencing stemmed from a drug-related incident that took place in June 2008. Herrera used a .handgun to shoot 27-year-old Israel Martinez of Dougherty.

October

3 — The dedication of Floydada’s Centennial Plaza was held as the city began its 100th birthday celebration. Plants, plus more granite stones and bricks were purchased in honor or in memory of Floydadans. After the dedication, a slide show of historical Floydada photos and a style show featuring early 1900s to current fashions modeled by Floydada 4-H’ers was held.

7 — Olton resident Raymond Ramirez Jr., 33, was killed along with two others in a fiery crash in Lamb County. According to reports, Ramirez’s grain hauler blew a tire as he was headed south on U.S. 385 about eight miles north of Littlefield. He veered into the northbound lane and collided head-on with a 2007 GMC Denali, which burst into flames. The SUV’s two passengers, Tammy Jackson, 40, and Rexee Jackson, 14, were killed.

9 — Nathan Jones, a pilot flying from Utah to Louisiana through Plainview, ran out of gas and was forced to make an emergency landing on a county road two miles southwest of Abernathy. The single-engine plane started sputtering after he flew past Plainview trying to avoid heavy clouds. No injuries were reported and Jones, after refueling, was able to take off again.

15 — Former Lockney police officer Brandon Welty, 23, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a 16-year-old family member and will serve seven years in jail. Floyd County District Attorney Becky McPherson said the girl had been performing a sex act on Welty from August to September, around the time he moved from Terry County to Lockney. Since the act took place in both counties, Welty was awaiting trial in Brownfield where he has been indicted on two counts of sexual assault on the same girl.

29 — Ronnie Joe Stowers, 57, of Tulia is facing aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping charges after he allegedly kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and later shot himself in the chest in southeastern New Mexico.

30 — A 37-year-old Floyd County woman died from complications of the H1N1 virus.

2 — Danny Huggins, 27, who taught math at Lockney High School, is under review by the TEA for an “allegation of misconduct,” TEA spokesperson DeEtta Culbertson of Austin said this morning. Huggins, who taught at Lockney for five years, resigned at the end of October.

19 — Former Tulia resident Paul Allen Brown, 48, was found dead in the cab of his silver GMC truck in a parking lot on the corner of 85th and Quaker Avenue in Lubbock. His death later was ruled a homicide.

26 — Golden Spread Electric Cooperative has received the final OK from Hale County to construct a new electric generation facility in Abernathy.

December

2 — Seven people were arrested during a raid in Lubbock in connection with multiple federal drug charges. Rolando Garcia Carrasco, 56, and Johnny Joe Carrasco, 35, both of Abernathy; Juan Manuel Carrasco, 55, of Olton were among those arrested and face methamphetamine and cocaine charges.

10 — Former Dallas Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson spoke to Tulia junior high and high school students before appearing at a Chamber of Commerce function that evening. Pearson’s appearance was sponsored by Tulia businesses and spearheaded by retired teacher and coach Larry “Happy” Cole, who wanted to do something to inspire the community and school.

22 — Five-year-old Tucker Redden was playing with his next-door neighbor, Anthony “Michael” Rangel, in the Rangel’s backyard in Hale Center when Anthony slid down an enclosed tube slide. A nylon string somehow got caught around Anthony’s throat. Tucker ran to get Anthony’s father, Mike Rangel, and Atmos Energy employee Richard Herrera, who worked to rescue the boy and then began CPR. Anthony was taken to Covenant Hospital Plainview and made a full recovery a few days later.

30 — Anjelica Moralez, 27, of Petersburg was pronounced when the 2003 Dodge Durango she was driving south on I-27 hit a patch of ice, lost control and flipped several times before entering the northbound lanes where it she struck a 2005 Chevrolet van. The driver of the van, Terry Creswell, 57, of Slaton, was not injured, DPS officials said.